On March 18, a British judge rejected a previous ruling that froze US$12 billion of assets belonging to Venezuela's state-owned oil-company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). The ruling was a reversal for Exxon Mobil Corporation , which has been seeking to freeze PDVSA assets in Europe prior to an arbitration process regarding Exxon claims the Venezuelan government failed to compensate the company adequately when President Hugo Chavez nationalized the country's large oil resources